News Point: The BMC decision to allow Mumbai builders to construct till late hours raises more questions than answers the project timeline constraints.
“The developer has delayed the possession of the apartment by almost a year. Why can’t these guys work till late to fast track the project? This nine to five mindset can not complete the project on time. When I question them they say the rules do not permit to extent work till late hours,” complains a homebuyer.
However, this suggestion of late construction, something that the BMC (BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation) has granted to extend work from 7 PM to 10 PM might be an enabler for timelines, it has its own resistance as well. While it protects the interests of the home buyers in the given project, it hurts the peace of those living in the neighbourhood.
Rocky Singh, a Thane resident therefore has a valid reason to complain on the contrary. According to him, the construction work till late close to his apartment is a big nuisance. It is problematic for his ailing father. “Why should the residents suffer because the developer is delaying the construction work,” questions Rocky.
Between these two contrasting voices of legitimate grievances the BMC has nevertheless allowed the builders to construct till 10 in the evening. It has been done after repeated representation by various industry bodies requesting the civic authority to play the role of enabler and facilitate them to meet the project timelines.
Advantatage late construction
- It will reduce the project timelines
- Developers’ project cost to marginally come down
- Reduces room for corruption
Disadvantage late construction
- Nuisance to neighbouring residents
- No clear law to curb noise level
- No monitoring mechanism if NGT norms are violated
The built environment of Mumbai real estate has hence welcomed the move on the expected lines. Nishant Agarwal, Managing Director of Avighna India says the decision by the BMC to allow construction activities in the city till 10pm is a welcome step. With the extended working hours, productivity and efficiency will increase substantially. This will also result in reducing undue cost overruns. Ultimately, such proactive steps will lead to lowering costs and therefore can help reduce prices also.
“Besides the developers and the buyers, the city also has a lot to benefit since mega cluster projects add a lot to the city’s infrastructure. Construction activities of long delayed under construction projects will now speed up leading to added advantage for the real estate sector as a whole,” says Agarwal.
Dharmesh Jain, President MCHI-CREDAI says the directive by MCGM of extending the construction deadline from 7 PM to 10 PM is an excellent enabler for the real estate industry towards ‘Ease of Doing Business’ (EODB). As Mumbai & MMR which is known for its fast moving pace, this initiative of MCGM (Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai) would lead to desired outcome for addressing the need of housing and infrastructure development of the region.
“Today, on an average, construction of a project takes anywhere around 36 months to 48 months. With the introduction of this move, the developers would be able to optimize the time & resources, thus fast track the development process. Now that there are additional three hours to add value to each day with increased levels of construction, a lot more work could be achieved and if one calculates there can be an estimate of around 45 more days in a year of hard work which will result into faster completion of projects and satisfied customers due to the delivery made on time,” says Jain.
Sandeep Ahuja, CEO, Richa Realtors also maintains that these small steps like increasing the construction time till 10 pm will definitely help in expediting the projects and help in timely completion. Real estate projects have enough reasons to get delayed and the time restriction comes as an additional constraint to the developers.
“Time limit also opens up avenues for corruption as developers are under tremendous pressure to complete the projects in time and many officials take advantage of this fact. The developers on their part must ensure that this concession does not create nuisance for the residents of the locality. The work must be planned in such a manner that does not disturb the neighbouring residents,” says Ahuja.
Dhaval Ajmera, Director, Ajmera Realty adds that the recent BMC change now allows a 3 hours extension on carrying the construction work from 7 PM to 10 pm. This move will definitely help to speed up the construction process and will additionally help save time and money. It is an extremely good initiative by the government and keeping in mind that no NGT (National Green Tribunal) norms are violated certain care should be taken in terms of noise pollution, as it is one of the key concerns of the circular.
“Every developer should take on their own stride to work out ways and means so as to not hamper the environment in any way. All in all it is a good move but as mentioned before, precautions should be taken wherever there is a need like residential society in the neighborhood. If the planning is done well, it will indeed be a win-win situation for both the developers and neighbors,’’ says Ajmera.
Analysts nevertheless put some riders in this relaxation of working hours. They advise a mechanism to ensure complete due diligence is being taken while carrying out the construction during late evening hours. The developers need to stand by the NGT norms and totally abide by their rules and regulations. The late construction should not cause any inconvenience to the residents in the neighbourhood. The introduction of newer technologies in construction should mitigate the noise intensity and the decibel levels must be within limits.
Since there are no civic rules that make it mandatory for builders to curb noise levels and the BMC only makes them sign a no-nuisance bond, it is imperative that the BMC forms a crack team to keep vigil on the late hour construction.
As of now the problem is that while police is the implementing authority for noise limits under environment protection rules, the BMC is the agency which is in charge of issuing permissions for development and alterations. Since the latter has not laid down guidelines on noise, a developer or an individual can take cover under the approvals secured from it.
In its true letter and spirit the move to allow late hour construction is a right step in the direction of enabling the construction timelines. If only the riders are put in place and follow-ups are done in the right manner, this enabler might rather bring happiness to the home buyers than causing inconvenience to the residents in the neighbourhood.
By: Ravi Sinha
